Orlando's Festival of Trees 2021: My Favorite Designs & Free Wallpapers!

Merry Friday and happy December, my tinsel-coated Christmas bots! I'm a little late with my tree roundup this year, so thank you to everyone who commented or messaged asking for it - makes me feel like my 4 hours of photo editing are worthwhile, haha. (Oh, who am I kidding, I love photo editing - you know I'd do it anyway.)

This year's Festival was a mixed bag for me, since I had a hard time at the event for personal panic reasons. Turns out I was reacting badly to a new generic version of my thyroid meds, so it's all fixed now, but on this day I was anxious, jittery and weak. That combined with more crowds than I expected, plus the changes you're about to see to the exhibit itself, had me grumpy and on edge.

But! Today I get a do-over with all of you. I'm going to try to look at this year's lineup with fresh eyes, so if I say anything grumpy, just smack my hand. You know, virtually. ;)

::opens doors::

Shall we?

The foyer tree this year was smaller than usual, but stunning. It's dripping with crystal swags, glittery leaves, and a pale peach ribbon:

I've noticed that peach is popular this year, so if you like the softer look, I've got more pretties for you coming up.

The foyer tree was sitting on a giant mirror, so looking down was just as sparkly:

OoooOOOooh.

From here you walk down this short hall to enter the exhibit areas.

The walls were lined with bare lighted branches, and unfortunately, those lights were set to a high-strobe flashing I dubbed "migraine mode." Most of the Festival guests are senior citizens, y'all. Who made this call.

Hang on, I have to show you I'm not exaggerating. Scroll fast if you're light sensitive:

o.0

At the end of the hall is the main hub, with all the exhibits branching off like spokes on a wheel. This hub is usually the big "wow" moment, with some of the largest and most swoon-worthy trees arranged around the walls in a big circle.

Those were all gone this year. ::sob:: In place of the trees were various advertising displays for the Festival sponsors.

Womp WOMP.

I literally walked in and said, "Oh no! Where are all the trees?"

Hang on, there was ONE tree in there, and a quite pretty one:

I told you more pale peach was coming! The tree is actually mostly soft teal, with a few champagne peach accents:

I love it when the museum pairs matching art with their trees:

Right, time to go exploring! The entire layout was different this year, so we got turned around a few times, but never had to go too far to find more trees.

This vintage-style tinsel tree is one of my Top Favorites this year, but WOW is it hard to photograph:

My Top Ten Moments In Ghostbusters: Afterlife

Warning: this post doesn't just contain spoilers about Ghostbusters:Afterlife, it is ALL spoilers. Oh yeah.

Also this will be super confusing if you haven't seen the movie yet, so if that's you, go watch Afterlife first and come back. You don't have to be a huge Ghostbusters fan to love the new movie, but the more familiar you are with the 1984 original, the more references and Easter eggs you'll catch. Afterlife is a continuation of the same story and universe, so much like Force Awakens for Star Wars, it stands well on its own, but has plenty of extras for fans.

Oh, and this will be less of a movie review and more of a "let's fangirl together" top ten sixteen list, hope that's cool. I'll try to keep them in chronological order, too, so we can relive the movie together.

This is gonna be fun.

1) When I first realized it was Egon.

From the previews I knew Afterlife would be about Egon, but I never dreamed he would be in it. So when the light fell on his profile on the front porch, chills, y'all. CHILLS. 

2) Egon's study and its symmetrical book stacking.

There were a few times in Afterlife when I clearly heard a quote from '84 in my head. This was the first of those times, and also one of many Easter eggs throughout the movie.

 "You're right. No human being would stack books like this."

3) The chocolate bar wrapper in Spengler's jumpsuit

Just Phoebe finding the jumpsuits made me a little misty (I could almost have a separate top 10 of how many times I cried) but then the Crunch bar wrapper? MY HEART. This is another Easter egg referencing '84 when Peter gave Egon a Nestle Crunch bar, saying, "You... you've earned this."

4) The workshop lamp pointing to Egon's doctorates on the wall

Though clearly meant to be possessed by Egon's ghost, the workshop lamp felt like an adorable mashup of the Pixar lamp and Tony Stark's workshop robot arm. SO CUTE. This moment was a good chuckle, too; casually showing off his diplomas is VERY Egon.

5) The hilariously horrifying Death Whistle